From last nights events, which ref was right and which one was wrong... There has been many posts/comments on the referee on the AJ/JP fight saying he jumped in too soon to break up the fight and made it boring etc etc But he was close to the action and called it how he saw it, broke the fight up and let them box, and that was how it went and it became boring, was he right... Price/Povetkin, the ref let them just get on with it and kept his distance, and it turned out pretty brutal, was he right... Refs have a difficult job to do, and when Price got starched by the right, was the left that came next necessary? If the Ref was closer could he have prevented that left landing and stopping the fight when he was badly hurt... And how would the results be today if these two Refs swapped roles, personally Price on points, and parker by stoppage...
What annoys me is that Foster stops Groves when Froch tickled him yet stands by clearly looking at Price out on his feet and allowing that brutal final blow. Personally I think there is referee corruption on a big scale within boxing as 'gross incompetence' from highly experienced referees is simply highly unlikely in much of the nonsense we see. Look at Big Fatty Terry O' Connor in the Fury v John McDermott first fight where Fatty scored the fight 98-92 Fury when it was clearly the other way. That scorecard was certainly nothing to do with what happened in the ring that night.
I'd give Foster a pass. I don't think any ref would have been quick enough to prevent the left hook even if they were a little closer.
The referee for the Joshua/Parker fight was a total disgrace and should never ref a fight again! I like Pabon as a referee, he is fair...............
I personally don't blame Foster for Price, although it looked awful in slow motion it happened very quickly in real time and he simply wasn't close enough to jump between them and also it was a very strange finish, Price seemed to just shut down, he was upright, didn't wobble or reel, he just stood there, hands dropped to his side and BOOM it was over. Watching it in real time with a TV camera view I didn't understand what happened at first, I thought "wtf is he doing" and by then he was KTFO. The AJ Parker fight, just poor, all around poor for a professional referee, the referee seemed terrified a fight would break out, he reminded me of an amateur referee, that sort of style, he wanted it all so clean, no inside fighting, no clinching, no holding, far too involved.
I think the criticism of Foster in the Price fight is harsh, if anything Price was the one at that moment in time that might be the one doing the KO! the 6 secs someone mentioned is nonsense it was literally like 1 second between the first punch and the follow up. Not a lot Foster could have done and there was no reason at the time for him to be in close with the fighters both were fighting at range at the time and it wasn't a particularly grapple or dirty fight. The ref for the AJ fight was obv terrible, AJ was pretty much reffing that fight at times!! I watched the HBO feed and Pauie M was slaughtering him the whole fight also.
Bring back Mills Lane..what is he up to these days?! He mist be getting on a bit now...remember seeing him at the big fights all the time when i was a rugrat lol. But yeah back on topic every ref in sport has a difficult job, even more so in boxing...it is what it is. Sometimes they p!ss me off and other times agree. Got to take the rough with the smooth in this game!
Think Foster is getting unfair stick for the price KO. I've literally just watched it back before commenting and it's a weird scenario that probably happens 1/100 fights, if not more. Pov catches price with a looping overhand right and then immediately switches his position to put himself between Price and the ref, so at this point the refs view isn't the best. Meanwhile poor Pricey is out on his feet and just as the ref is coming round the fighters to get a proper view Pov KO's Price with that bashing left hook, at which point Foster jumps straight in and tends to Price. All of that happens in no more than 1.5 seconds. Not the refs fault at all, it was the very fact Price stayed up from the over hand right even though he was absolutely scrambled that was the issue. Just a weird freakish scenario. Price just eventually gets caught flush and his brain goes. If he'd have still had his sense and been able to take a knee after the right hand he probably could have fought on and still been dangerous to Pov a short while longer.
its no different really to the Zlaticanin KO by Garcia, he was already out and unable to defend himself when Garcia hits him again which is why it was so brutal
Yeah but the way there was space between POV and Price and how price was still stood in the centre of the ring is what made it weird. I know guys end up out on their feet all the time and end up getting KO'd but generally they are still taking a barrage of punches so the ref can't always see a guy's out. Whereas the Price Pov fight differs a bit in the way I mentioned above. Watching on TV we could clearly see Price is out and drops his hands but I bet from Fosters view it looks like Price has just took a step away from Pov and is about to come again, if you know what I mean?
